Productivity Hacks for Founders

Avoid distractions, block your day, and harness the power of “deep work.”

Are you destined to change the world with your ideas? Well then, nothing beats the feeling of superhuman productivity; when you hit that groove, start checking off tasks, and look back in wonderment. What seemed impossible now rightfully lives in the past. So, how do you sustain a deep state of focus when distractions are constantly nagging you? It’s a challenge that everyone goes through in their own way when new obstacles present themselves and you’re suddenly battling with your own process. In order to rise above the norm and become a “Super Producer,” you need to navigate your way through the day avoiding landmines and traps designed to sidetrack your work. Left to your own devices, weeks might fly by where you ask yourself, “What did I even accomplish this week?” But with the right tools, patience, and habits, you can excel past your peers.

Let’s dispel a startup fallacy. As an entrepreneur, there’s a feeling that you need to wait for that “lightbulb” moment of brilliance to strike. That’s just not true. Conditions of creativity are frequently wrestled out of yourself by sheer force; manifested by your unwavering determination to succeed. By incorporating healthy rhythms, habits, and cadences into your daily routine, you can create an optimal environment for “deep work” to kick in like autopilot. But be aware, what works for someone else might not work for you. Like a mad scientist, you need to mix and match your habits and concoct the perfect recipe for success.

Progress with Process

If highly productive individuals were studied, my guess would show that they possess an uncanny ability to process complex thoughts and excel compared to others. Proper deep thought can open up your ability to understand complex ideas, heighten creative output, and improve your prospects for brilliant sparks. This feeling is more familiar than you think. You should know when you’re firing on all cylinders and producing at your optimum level of output. But anyone can reach this meditative productivity with a few tips and tricks for wielding greatness.

“When you can’t create, you can work,” said artist and author Henry Miller. When you’re in a deep state of thought, sky’s the limit. Painters, musicians, and writers have been harnessing deep focus to produce an enormous amount of famous works in cycles. So, let’s consider some great thinkers and brilliant minds in “deep work” states:

• Ray Bradbury wrote his first draft of Fahrenheit 451 on a coin-operated typewriter in a few highly-productive sessions.
• Painter Andrew Wyeth could complete an entire painting in just a few hours, even taping a piece of cardboard to the side of his glasses when the view of the outside world was too distracting
• The Beatles’ song “Yesterday” was famously conceived in Paul McCartney’s sleep and written down in a burst of morning creativity.

I’ve always enjoyed Ernest Hemingway’s advice for writers, but his guidance applies to all creative producers. He recommends you stop what you’re doing when you know what comes next. That way, when you begin your deep work session, you have a jumping off point. Regardless of greatness, though, all highly productive people understand the need for balance and a time to recharge: nap, rest, swim, walk, run, meditate. We all need a REM sleep state of productivity to create our own “Yesterday” moment.

Repetition

Be in tune with your brain. What do I mean by that? We all have rhythms and cadences in our day-to-day activities. Does fitness recharge your batteries? Be hyper aware of when you’re becoming fatigued, when your sweet spot is to produce, and when it’s time to pack it up and step away from your computer. It’s is a lifestyle change that extends outside of the workplace environment because you may be a night owl who works better through the night. Or an early morning riser that should get up earlier than usual to lock in some deep work time.

Below is my personal routine that I rigorously stick to during the week:

• 7:30am: Wake up. Coffee. Breakfast. Family time.
• 9:00am — 12:00pm: First “Deep Work” session. This can be broken into two sections for two tasks, but you might run into attention residue; when your brain is still actively trying to solve the prior task that was left unfinished.
• 12:00pm — 1:00pm: Lunch. Wellness/Fitness. Walk.
• 1:00pm — 3:00pm: Second “Deep Work” session. This can be broken into two sections as well, but be cautious about attention residue.
• 3:00pm — 5:00pm: “Shallow work” and daily pending tasks. I leave this to the last part of the day to know that I have moved the needle on larger projects so I’m not beating myself up or having work bleed into my nightly routine.
• 5:00pm — 8:00pm: Dinner. Family. Decompressing.
• 8:00–11:00pm: Creative outlet. Writing. Painting. Reading.
• 11:00pm: Sleep

Author Haruki Murakami views repetition and mesmerism as one of the most important keys to long-term success: “I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. But to hold to such repetition for so long — six months to a year — requires a good amount of mental and physical strength. In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.”

All of these people have mastered their creative process to maximize their productive output. Speed and quality are sometimes seen as competing attributes, but you need to juggle them both in this new work culture to stand out. Endurance is key, but to rise above the rest you must be a master of your craft with excellent, speedy precision.

Conquering Distractions

Many painters and writers require absolutely NO distractions while they’re working. JD Salinger was a hermit who would write in his shed and not even his kids were allowed to disrupt him. Pollock and Picasso never allowed anyone into their painting studios. Some don’t stray from their daily routines and rituals out of fear they will jinx it. XX famously did the same exact routine over and over each day because they feared they would sink into a major depression again.

Sometimes it might feel like the workplace is not an ideal place to work. The workplace disrupts the “deep work” mentality. Meetings, distractions, lunch times, emails, etc. Many work environments negatively impact productivity by inserting arbitrary barriers for success. Management, meetings, and mundane tasks can all exhaust a worker’s ability to produce. As a founder, you have a limited amount of time in the day to work on what is important to your business. Constantly ask yourself if what you’re working on is moving the needle. Or is it busy work? If you compared the output of full-time employees to hourly ones, I bet you’d be surprised by the different in productivity. That’s because hourly employees are managing their time better.

Remote workplaces are opening up a new level of convenience for heightened productivity. I know you’ve heard the people who say they get more done when they work at home. But there are also people that get distracted by household tasks like prepping dinner, doing laundry, or cleaning the house. Know the ebbs and flows of your creative cadence.

Rules for Focus

• Schedule your deep work time on your calendar. Block out recurring times on your calendar dedicated to focus on particular tasks, projects, or brainstorming sessions. Although an answer might seem impossible at the time, trust your mind with troubleshoot it with a little dedication. If you allow yourself to embark on a solution, you’ll be surprised at what you find.
• Managerial time blocks. If you have employees you manage, offer an optional, recurring time block for them to check in with you or for you to check in with them.
• Limit meetings to mandatory attendance. As companies grow, most fall victim to the all-day meetings where people simply bounce ideas off eachother, feel important, and don’t actually execute on any pending tasks. I am not saying that these meetings can’t be productive, but organize your meeting cadence efficiently and be respectful of yours and other people’s time.
• Preparatory documentation. No one likes showing up at a meeting clueless about the topic or expectations . Always send a deck or one-sheet a few days prior to your meeting so attendees have a chance to review and prepare for a productive use of time.
• Placeholders are your best friend. What I have found extremely helpful to my productivity is to skip parts of my writing process when I am struggling. I do this by using placeholders like TK or XX so that I can easily search them at a later time when my brain is ready to answer those unknowns. Also, I use Google to search for words synonyms so I’m not wasting time.
• Time and energy are scarce resources. Treat them as such.
• Idle time is crucial. Never forget to take a break from your work. If you feel like you’re maxing out, your body is telling you to take a step back from your creation. You’ll come back anew, refreshed, and thinking about it in a different way.
• Reserve email response times. Many people are plagued by the unopened number of emails building up in their inbox. Learn to dedicate certain blocks of time to email responses and ignore that number otherwise.
• Train your brain to anticipate creative moments. With a great daily/weekly routine, you can set in motion a predictable moment for deep work. Enforce a routine so your mind achieves more within a smaller allotted timeframe.
• Keep your goals realistic. Your mind is a muscle that needs strengthening. Be comfortable knowing every day can’t be the same level of achievement.

Your Custom Approach

Finding the right balance to maximize your productivity takes time, modifications, trial and error, and dedication. No two people will have the same method for success. But once you find your groove, you’ll be executing on tasks quicker than your peers and look like a superhero to your bosses.

Are you a startup founder in the Gulf Coast? It’s never too early to reach out to Callais Capital, even if it’s early in your fundraising process. We know that companies take time to turn a profit and find their product market fit. But we would love to hear from you.